The fruit wine category is a virtually untapped opportunity and producers have a hand in shaping the industry from the ground up, a winemaker tells Wine Vision 2015.

Speaking in Bilbao on the future of fruit wines, Dominic Rivard of Wine Planet Consulting said the category has gained in popularity so much that it has become mainstream in certain markets, and if not quite mainstream then in some of these main markets it will achieve this in the near future.

Rivard said: “Producers and distributors now have a hand in shaping the industry from the ground up and there is a lot of opportunity to make fruit wines compelling or attractive.

“As producers and marketers, we have to think about being more flexible and adapt to the world. Not only to consumer preferences, but to the fact that people are thinking 100 years in advance.

“Perhaps in 100 years, grapes will not grow in a particular area. That is the reality, so we have to prepare for this. You have got to be able to adapt and find a new, raw material that you are able to make quality wine with.”

He added: “The changes I have seen over the last 20 years are incredible but as far as I am concerned it is only the beginning of this whole industry. Consumer preference is changing extremely fast and perception of fruit wine is changing dramatically.”